Contents

Show & Episode Listing

A Note on Show Numbering: This site uses a consistent numbering system for all of the commercially-produced shows starring Max Headroom. This system is intended to simplify references and citations and is an attempt to replace 30 years of inconsistent and erroneous information.

Show numbers in bold indicate completed listings. Updates are always possible, but "completed" entries contain all available information.

A Note on Show Air Dates: All dates given in this page are premiere dates in either the US (on Cinemax or ABC) or UK (Channel Four). Most of the shows were re-shown across both channels, sometimes repeatedly, and the ABC series was rebroadcast in the US at a much later date, on the Bravo and TechTV cable channels. Only the first air date in the US or UK is listed here.

Thanks to some new and diligent research, all show and date listings below can be considered authoritative. Also, as all shows (except for the first 12 of season 1) are in the MaxRchives, all show descriptions, guest lists and video content can be considered definitive.

The very first season of the UK show on Channel Four had no set and consisted of music videos presented (and frequently interrupted) by Max. This show is the original purpose for which Max was created: to serve as a bizarre, attention-getting host and "talking head" VJ for a video show on the then-new Channel Four. The first episode ran two days after the premiere of the origin telefilm.

There is very little information about this 13-week season except the air dates, especially as the first 12 shows are considered "lost," with no recordings (even bootleg) readily available. Many prior listings and show sites are blank about any shows before the second season (which is thus usually referred to as the first.)

The second season of the show, identifiable by its "bar room" set, ran first on Cinemax and evolved to have guests along with the videos. Some of these shows may have re-used material from the first season - as did the first, which essentially reprised the last show of the prior season. The shows were edited slightly in some places for their later UK run.

The third season of the show, now a formal joint production of Channel Four and Cinemax, is identifiable by its much larger "talk show" set. The show's repertoire was also extended by having Max regularly sing songs, as he had done to close the last show of the prior season. As with that second season, the shows premiered in the US and ran later in the UK.

(Note: Identification of this or any other season as "The Max Talking Headroom Show" appears to be in error.)

The full-length Christmas special, produced as an additional episode of the third season. It premiered in the US as "The Max Headroom Christmas Special" but retained the UK title within the show. UK viewers saw this special before any of the third season episodes.

The talk/video/interview show as continued by Cinemax in the US. There was one season of these original shows for Cinemax that followed the three seasons of shared material from Channel Four. The later shows overlapped in the same season as the ABC series. This series never aired in the UK.